“(You) need to choose whether to catch fish and shrimp or to build a state-of-the-art steel mill,” he said, according to a video of the interview posted online.

Although the pipeline itself is legal, Formosa is only permitted to discharge treated waste water into the ocean, according to a report in the state-run Thanh Nien newspaper.

“The problem is what and how (Formosa) discharged,” from the waste-water pipe, deputy environment minister Vo Tuan Nhan said, according to the report.

The report also said that Formosa had imported some 300 tons of toxic chemicals to clean the waste-water pipeline, a shipment the Vietnam Environment Administration said it was not informed of. The report did not say whether the chemicals had been used.

Local fishermen are claiming that before the company arrived in the area, fish and shrimp were plentiful, but since it began work, fish stocks have plummeted.

Hanoi has dispatched teams of environmental experts to the area to investigate the dead fish.